[HanCinema's Digest] Culture Corner

See how young South Koreans are embracing the hanbok, K-pop is helping to grow China's plastic surgery industry, take a trip back to Korea Joa 2015 with Raine with a visit to a Korean temple, and learn how a Korean "imagineer" is hoping to add more substance to how Koreans experience and relate to their culture.

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"More Young South Koreans Find Hanbok Traditional Dress Attractive And Its Sales Are Soaring"

Modern South Korean culture is a pastiche of past and present sensibilities that is continually finding new forms of expression. In this post, JKNUS explores how Korea's hanbok, a traditional Korean dress, is being somewhat rediscovered as "free-spirited youngsters reinterpret it to suit their taste". Fabrics and styles are indeed changing, and it's exciting to see how both men and women are reinterpreting and adapting the hanbok and reaching new levels of style in the process.

...READ ON JKNUS

"K-Pop Influences Boom In China's Plastic Surgery Industry"

South Korea is well known as the place to go if cosmetic surgery is on your to-do list. Many men and women have gone under the knife in Korea for both small and large alterations to their body, and their expertise is attracting a number of international tourists looking to do the same. K-culture exports like K-pop have, according to the China Christian Daily, also resulted in a rise of cosmetic surgery back in China: "While South Korea is known to be the world's leading country for plastic surgery procedures, China and its consumers now demand to go under the knife, too for beauty purposes and this demand is increasing".

...READ ON CHINA CHRISTIAN DAILY

"[HanCinema's Korea Joa] Haedong Yonggung Temple"

Here's a flashback to Korea Joa 2015, a cultural exchange program aimed at promoting K-culture to foreigners by exploring the country and its people. In this post, Raine shared some stunning snaps of Haedong Yonggung Temple while sharing a little history and her own experiences: "Built in 1376 by Goryeo Dynasty Buddhist teacher Naong, the temple runs along the water and as one walks along the stone paths twelve stone zodiac statues welcome all visitors to the peaceful place where monks and citizens alike come to pray".

...READ ON HANCINEMA

"Finding New Horizons for Korea in its Past: The Cultural Pioneering of Jin Yong Lee"

Yes, yes, we all know about K-culture and its incredible spread around the world, but is the country sending out the right message? Is there an alternative to mere branding and buzz? Emanuel Pastreich, writing for Huffiest, features the works and ideas of Jin Yong Lee, a self-proclaimed "imagineer" who's trying to add more depth to how South Koreans seen and related to their own culture in the ever-shifting twenty-first century: "Jin Yong has taken the first steps towards realizing a cultural Renaissance in Korea that reinterprets traditional culture and combines it with the potential of emerging technologies to create a compelling paradigm shift".

...READ ON HUFFPOST